I'll admit I that I haven't listened to Coldplay's new album "La Vida Loca" so I don't know if you could classify me as a die-hard fan, per se. But I am a die-hard fan of their first two albums, "Parachute" and "A Cold Rush of Blood to the Head."
In fact, I started listening to Coldplay in 2001, when Parachutes was released. I was 19 year's old (totally just dated muhself) and travelling alone through Austalia. I had heard "Yellow" played enough Down Under to want to hear what else Coldplay had to offer. I distinctly remembering buying Parachutes on cassette as I only had a walkman to travel with (now I'm REALLY aging myself) and then listening to the album ad nauseum as I traveled up and down the East Coast and finally, the Red Centre (the best part).
The most beautiful moment I had was waking up with the sunrise in the middle of my 24-hour bus ride from Darwin to Alice Springs. I leaned against the window and watched as absolutely nothing but soft pink light and red dust flew by for hours. It was wonderfully humbling, egged on "Spiderwebs" playing in my ears. Weird, how certain memories of your life stand out, while others are so easily forgotten.
Parachutes remind me those days when I was young and free. And Cold Rush also brings me back to better - at least more exciting - times.
In 2003, I moved alone to New Zealand to go to school. I bought the album just before I left and promised myself I would not listen to it until I arrived in the country, so I would always associate my new beginnings with it. I was true to my word, only playing it as the plane was an hour from gracing Auckland with its prescence. I remember the clouds, so bright and velvety and the achingly blue sky as the jubilant intro of "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face" came on. It was so fitting. I was a character in a movie.
"Green Eyes" was also poignant, as I crushed hopelessly on a guy, who had the nicest green eyes (I ended up dating him - he was a freakin' psycho. As in, should be locked up kind of psycho - anyhoo, long story and not the point) and I clearly remembering sitting on the beach in Punakaiki while visiting my half-sister on the South Island and listening to that song, wondering about him and what my life would hold (I met him online before I got to NZ).
Ironically, the line "Nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be this hard" from "The Scientist" really came in handy later on when he dumped me. Via text.
Then "X&Y" album came out, which I enjoyed, just not as emotionally as I had the others. I also had compiled a CD that had all of Coldplay's B-sides from their earlier albums, which I thought packed more punch. It reminds me of Journalism School (I went to two unis, one in NZ, one in BC), and going for drives in my tank of a car through the old mill town where I lived, past brown desert hills that looked velour at sunset.
I also remember cheating death to drive in the middle of winter, in the worst snowstorm ever, just to get to Vancouver (uni was 3.5 hours north-east) to see Coldplay in concert. Totally worth dying for, I would think. It was still the most powerful concert I have ever seen. Not the "best" but the one that left me speechless, my emotions riding high for two wonderful hours.
Anyway, that's Coldplay to me. I thought I would write a sentence or two but I guess it brought up some grand old memories. And I know Coldplay gets a bad rap from most people, in fact a friend of mine recently called it "souless," but no music that brings up so much beauty in my memories can ever be called souless to me.
PS - like the dress? It's up for sale on eBay. I only wore it for this photoshoot so it's brand spanking new :) Ebay link: http://shop.ebay.ca/merchant/marilynmunro
